


a terrible night is coming

by itsgameover



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Reincarnation, Blood, Immortals, Jongdae's Birthday Week 2020, M/M, Mafia undertones, Murder, Non-Linear Narrative, Prostitution
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-28
Updated: 2020-09-28
Packaged: 2021-03-06 22:35:33
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26396509
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/itsgameover/pseuds/itsgameover
Summary: Jongdae dies in the alleyway, promising revenge with his last breath.
Relationships: Kim Jongdae | Chen/Kim Junmyeon | Suho
Comments: 4
Kudos: 18
Collections: Challenge #7 — Out of Order





	a terrible night is coming

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you mods for organizing this round once more, you are the absolute bestest mods in the galaxy!  
> Thank you to my sweet betas and my overabused dark-music spotify playlist.

Dying in an alleyway isn’t the death you expect. No one wants to die among foul smells and dirty rats, much less when the death you experience is not kind. 

And the death he’s been granted is everything but kind. It feels like his entire body is on fire, stomach turning inside out, blood sputtering out of his blistered mouth, throat torn to shreds by invisible claws climbing from the inside of his body, loins contorting painfully, wrestling against the walls of his abdomen. It’s death and it’s gruesome and violent, at least on the inside. 

He crawls as much as he can, moving a few feet away from the back door of the bar, one hand draped across his lower torso, the other propelling forward until the weight becomes too much and he finally collapses. His face meets the pavement and the smell of blood clogs his brain, shutting his body from further movement, so he does the only thing he can do, hugging himself tightly, laying sideways on the cold, cold floor, city lights reflected on the tiny puddle of blood that fell from his mouth.

There is a scoff, then a mocking voice piercing the darkness. “If you ask kindly I can spare you the worst of it.”

Jongdae raises his eyes, coughing violently, then straightens up and orders a glass of whiskey. 

“Just whiskey?” Junmyeon asks, eyeing him with a raised eyebrow. 

“I like whiskey” Jongdae responds, sinking in the stool by the bar, “it’s the only thing keeping me from killing you right now” he jokes. For a moment Junmyeon’s expression is somber, but he shakes his head and soon he is laughing, patting Jongdae’s back with his free hand, chugging his beer with the other. 

The inside of the bar is full of noise, the drinks are strong, the people are pretty, there is a girl who hasn’t stopped staring at Jongdae since he arrived and even if it makes him uncomfortable it also flatters him, so he raises his glass and tips it towards her. The girl blushes and turns away. 

It’s a bar for sailors, for the people who work in the harbor but never had set foot on any boat, for the henchmen that come looking for a strong drink to forget their long days of servitude, for the prostitutes that serve those types of men. 

Jongdae was one of them once, the prostitutes that is, but not in this sordid tavern by the Red Bridge. In another world, in another age, another universe even. He is pretty sure it was five decades ago, when the city was still well and healthy. Now it’s rotten, broken apart by gangs and thugs, by lords that rule the underworld mercilessly, by Junmyeon who keeps pretending he is not another one of those lords. 

As if Jongdae wasn’t his favourite whore back when the city was whole and alive. As if Jongdae wasn’t the one he kidnapped one stormy night, as if Jongdae didn’t kill him when he found out who Junmyeon really was, seas rising angrily at the loss of their beloved. 

Jongdae is not blind, he sees how the rest of the patrons in the bar shy away from their place, the threatening aura of Junmyeon intermixing with Jongdae’s “I know why you called me here” vibe. And he sees others like him, other Reborn, other children of the Twelve Dragons. There is Jongin with his bronze skin and piercing eyes, Sehun with his sullen looks and terrifying glare. And Jongdae notices the daggers under their belts, it’d be hard to miss them, steel with silver glyphs, blessings of vipers and forgotten gods. 

He stares at them for a long moment, wondering which one was chosen to carry the mission of killing him, which one of them is the soldier that will end Jongdae’s life before the night is over. 

“You know what?” Junmyeon says, calling Jongdae’s attention. He drinks the last drops of his whiskey, nervously waiting for the other shoe to drop, “We found out there is another way to kill immortals”

Jongdae raises an eyebrow, his mind telling him what his heart has refused to accept since the boys went missing a few weeks ago. 

“A little bit of poison,” Junmyeon whispers. 

Jongdae feels his throat close. He stands up, running for the back door, desperate for air.

People look away from them as they walk past the dirty alleyway, Jongdae sputtering blood, Junmyeon telling him he can spare him the worst. 

“I’m...” Jongdae coughs, retorting in pain, “glad you decided to… to do this… yourself”

“I had to,” Junmyeon shrugs. “You didn’t leave me any other choice. I asked very kindly but I was refused.”

Jongdae wrestles his body to comply, resting on his back as the dark sky starts to open, the beginnings of a thunderstorm that marks the end of the line for the son of the cruel skies.

“I’ll meet you in another life, Suho,” Jongdae says, keeping eye contact with the man that kneels by his side and places a dagger on Jongdae’s throat “And you won’t be king of this city then.”

“I’m counting on it, Chen,” Junmyeon answers, “but you are right. I won’t run this city. I’ll be king of the world.” 

The blood gushes out and lightning marks a pathway across the sky, running to find another vessel. 

There is a knock on Jongdae’s door. He stares at the clock over his kitchen sink and furrows his brow. He expected visits much later, did something happen to Minseok? 

Another knock, Jongdae puts the last of his clean dishes away and dries his hands on the front of his dark blue apron. 

“Can I help you?” he asks, seeing the sparkle of a familiar necklace on the other side of the peephole. 

“Jongdae! It’s me, Junmyeon, let’s go to the bar!” the peppy voice says, losing candor when it resonates again to announce, ominously: “We have to talk about some things...”

**Author's Note:**

> I blame this on my sleep deprivation caused by uni and my "if i were a villain" playlist featuring jekyll and other demons.


End file.
